Things would have been very different when I started working as an undergraduate at Telstra, if it weren’t for my boss at the time – a brilliant bloke named John. He was technically capable without being nerdy, politically savvy without being a politician, and a strategic thinker and genuinely pastoral person. He worked hard to ensure I was eased into big business culture, drawing diagrams of who’s-who for me during meetings, explaining the ad-hocracy, and showing a genuine interest in the things I cared about.
He overheard me listening to some Beethoven while writing a report, and struck up a conversation about the best kinds of music to listen to when working, and the way mathematics, philosophy, and art interact, and GEB, which I’d just read. The next day he handed me a CD, and recommended tracks 4-6 – Sonata in D for Two Pianos K3.
The rest of the day flew by in a pleasant, hyper-productive blur. I still put Mozart’s Music for Two Pianos on when I need a burst of focus, and seem to have infected at least one of my daughters with the same idea.
